Effective Combinations in the Dream World Metagame

I felt that since other DST subforums had this, I may as well do one for Dream World. Now, post an effective offensive / defensive core of 2 Pokemon here and explain what makes the core good. Do the two Pokemon eliminate each other's counters? Do they wall special and physical threats to the point where the opponent cannot do anything? Do they have perfect synergy and type coverage? That is all what should be included in your combination's description. To start one off, I'll list a commonly used and very good, effective combination of Excadrill + Garchomp.

Description: The idea between using this core is simple: the counters that cover both Garchomp and Excadrill are so few and far between that by using the two together and adding a special attacker, one can beat down any type of defensive team. Under the sand, Excadrill is the fastest Pokemon in the game, and Garchomp is certainly the most annoying. Both can quickly boost thanks to outstanding defensive stats and quickly eliminate opposing Pokemon. Excadrill removes hazards that are harmful for Garchomp's sweep while Garchomp can remove Breloom, a prime opponent of Excadrill. Also, with all the power brought by both Excadrill and Garchomp's own Swords Dance, there is no need to run investment in Attack because you will already be able to take down all necessary threats. This allows Garchomp to have an easier time with Pokemon such as Keldeo and Breloom that would normally beat down Garchomp, but cannot due to the massive HP. Additionally, Excadrill has no trouble with two of the foremost threats in the metagame, Genesect and Chandelure, so they are no problem to worry about.

Now, please feel free to post your own creative (and battle-tested!) combinations that you feel are viable. Feel free to be creative, it's fun to think outside the box!

Roserade provides Toxic Spikes which allows Raikou to sweep more easily. Gastrodon normally checks Raikou but with Toxic Spikes, this is no longer the case. The same is true about Chansey, Blissey and other special walls. SubCM Raikou takes full advantage of Toxic Spikes while Bolt Beam coverage is excellent. I like running an offensive Roserade as it forces switches and makes it easier to set up Toxic Spikes. Leaf Storm and Sludge Bomb are both STAB moves that hit hard. Sleep Powder is for crippling threats and is a OHKO move a lot of the times because of the 5th generation sleep mechanics.

The very best sweeper of all? Yes please! Empoleon is one the most threatening special sweepers, as with Torrent, Petaya, and rain its STAB move destroys anything that resists it bar... wait Blissey is also destroyed. And so are resists. Hydro Pump is guaranteed to KO Blissey after Stealth Rock and two layers of Spikes. Chansey is still annoying though. The last slot depends on what you want to get walled by: Ice Beam leaves you open to Jellicent and Gastrodon, while Grass Knot leaves you walled by Dragonite with Multiscale (Stealth Rock fixes this) and.. specially defensive Grass-types, but those are really rare. Grass Knot is usually the superior choice because of this. Choice between Surf and Hydro Pump is a tough one... normally I'd go with Surf, but Hydro Pump KOes Keldeo without any prior damage, while Surf does 86 - 101%.

Now, what does Politoed do to help Empoleon. First of all, Drizzle. This is a big one, helping Empoleon maul through Water resists which it otherwise has trouble with. But what does this specific set do for Empoleon? It lures in counters and KOes them, or at least leaves them weakened enough to let Empoleon sweep. Ferrothorn thinks he can wall Politoed? Take that Focus Blast, and be very crippled and unable to wall Empoleon. Oh hey, Vaporeon! Here, have a Hypnosis / Toxic. Chansey, hey! Hypnosis it while it switches in, switch to something that forces it out and tada! If you have SR and Spikes up, this means that it took an extra 25% damage, meaning that if it comes in on Empoleon the next time it will be at 50%, while Empoleon's Hydro Pump does 58% minimum, and Surf does 50% on average. If Empoleon has Ice Beam, you can use Hidden Power Grass on Politoed to KO Gastrodon, but Grass Knot is superior anyways.

Genesect and Raikou form a powerful Volt Turn combination. Genesect's Download can effectively give a Choice Band or Choice Specs boost on top of its Choice Scarf boost. U-turn provides STAB and hits anything weak to it very hard if it gets an Attack boost from Download. Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, and Flamethrower get great coverage on the Special side and allows Genesect to check powerful sweepers such as Dragonite, Gyarados, and Scizor.

Raikou's Speed allows it to run Choice Specs instead of Choice Scarf and is more powerful than Jolteon, which is why I'm running it over Jolteon and Rotom-W. Volt Switch becomes very powerful after a Choice Specs boost, which eases prediction if I'm up against something weak to it. If they stay in, they face the possibility of being KO, while if they switch out, I gain momentum. Thunderbolt is simply for a more powerful STAB when need to KO my opponent and can allow Raikou to sweep late game while HP Ice provides pseudo-BoltBeam coverage. Shadow Ball is mainly filler, but it does hit Lati@s and Celebi harder than HP Ice and will 2HKO offensive Mamoswine. Volt Absorb is what really makes Raikou, as its good Special Bulk allows it to counter most Electric-types.

Both Genesect and Raikou work best in Rain, as it allows them to use the more powerful Thunder. On Raikou in particular, it allows it to always OHKO +1 offensive Keldeo and gives it a good chance to OHKO +1 max HP Manaphy. Rain does make Genesect's Flamethrower less effective, but at +1 it will still OHKO max HP Scizor and Forretress and deal a large amount of damage to standard Ferrothorn. Picking up the boost is also easy against these three, as they generally run more Def than SpDef. Heatran, Chansey, and Mamoswine can switch into both Pokemon fairly easily, so a powerful Fighting-type like Keldeo, Terrakion, or Mienshao can be a good teammate to take these Pokemon out.

Description: Ok so these two guys work amazingly well under the sun together. First off, Blaziken is an amazing sweeper because it can already get by physically-based walls on its own, while Venusaur can get past specially-based ones on its own as well. At +2 Attack, Blaziken will OHKO standard Gliscor, a rare feat for any physically-based attacker! But that is not all, as Venusaur can use Growth to simply boost its decent Special Attack and Attack to sky-high levels. While this combo is completely dependent on sun for most of its kills, if one is able to win a weather war, these two will almost certainly wreak havoc. For one, specially-based walls cannot do much damage to Venusaur due to its immunity to Toxic. Furthermore, Seismic Toss from Chansey / Blissey can simply be healed off by a Life Orb-boosted Giga Drain. If the sun is up, there isn't much one can do to take this duo down without either getting lucky or out-predicting your opponent.

Although Keldeo is best used on a rain team, and Garchomp is best used on a sand team, the two have remarkable synergy together and can take out much of the Dream World metagame. Keldeo is an immensely powerful special attacker that easily finds opportunities to set up on weak walls, and proceed to wreck them with a boosted Hydro Pump or Secret Sword. Even Chansey and Blissey fear Keldeo because of its STAB Secret Sword. Garchomp takes care of faster Dragon-types that can threaten Keldeo, such as +1 Dragonite and Haxorus, Latios and Latias, and several others, allowing Keldeo to procure a clean sweep. Between the two, almost nothing can stand in their way, especially with a bit of entry hazard support from the likes of Deoxys-S.

This core is pretty cool. Breloom is a huge Chandelure lure as Chandelure resists Bullet Seed and is immune to Mach Punch. They think that they can switch in freely and trap you. Luckily, you have Shed Shell! With Shed Shell you can escape the wrath of Chandelure and trap Chandelure with your Tyranitar. That's not all